I Became the Guardian of Big Shots in the Game

Ethan and his group soon faced the source of the howling.
A horde of monsters wearing various armor and weapons.
They were the so-called Evil Lizards.
They looked similar to Lizardmen, but these were clearly monsters.
Dialogue is obviously impossible, and they harbor strong killing intent when they see humans, so there’s no choice but to fight.
Trembling their blue scales.
Towards the Evil Lizard horde slowly pressuring the group.
Ponya instinctively growled.
“Ponya, calm down.”
“…Yes.”
Sir Rashid restrained Ponya, who looked ready to jump out at any moment.
And that was a good judgment.
Evil Lizards are high-intelligence monsters that hunt in packs.
“There will be more nearby.”
No sooner had Ethan finished speaking.
More footsteps were heard.
Perhaps realizing their lure didn’t work.
Soon they started slinking out from behind rocks and pillars.
Their numbers grew from five to ten, ten to twenty, twenty to thirty.
Ethan frowned.
Not because there were too many monsters, but.
‘These guys shouldn’t be coming out here?’
Because something was strange.
According to the data he checked at the explorer’s guild, the Evil Lizards’ habitat is in the 60-65th underground floor range.
There was information that monster movement of 1-2 floors occasionally occurs due to naturally formed passages, but.
Their habitat was too far from this 40th underground floor.
‘Someone must have brought them.’
There was no other answer.
“Evil Lizards are monsters that appear from the 60th underground floor.”
“Did you say the 60th floor?”
“Yes, so Sir Rashid, please help this time too. Something seems off.”
Until now, he hadn’t participated in direct combat, but guided and advised from behind the children.
“Leave it to me.”
This time he stood beside Ponya with his sword drawn.
“Grrrrrrr!!!”
The three at the very front rushed in.
The rest didn’t move, so it seemed like a reconnaissance attack.
“Ponya, let’s work together.”
“Yes!”
On this side, Sir Rashid and Ponya stepped forward.
A lizard holding a sword in each hand clashed with Sir Rashid first, but.
Slash.
It was cut in half without even lasting 2 exchanges.
Ponya swung her greatsword wide and cut the waists of the remaining two in one go.
“Grrrr??”
When the reconnaissance and vanguard battle ended in less than a minute.
The Evil Lizards seemed quite flustered, but.
-Tssst!
For a moment, the flow of mana in the surroundings subtly changed.
All the Evil Lizards simultaneously stopped moving, then turned their gaze to the front.
‘These guys, it seems they’re being controlled.’
Ethan carefully observed the rear of the Evil Lizards.
Something with a rather small build was mixed in behind the blue lizards.
‘As I thought.’
Monsters that shouldn’t exist on the 40th floor.
Plus, it was suspicious that they showed no signs of retreating despite losing the reconnaissance battle.
The reason was revealed.
There was someone controlling the monsters in their rear.
If we deal with that one, the Evil Lizards should scatter.
Ethan whispered softly to Sir Rashid.
“Can you break through the front with Ponya?”
“It seems you’ve found some method. Understood. Ponya, stay close and follow me.”
“Yes!”
Whooosh!
The two reached the enemy’s encirclement at an amazing speed and swung their swords.
“Graaaah!!!”
“Take this!”
They create a path by sweeping aside two who lost their heads in an instant.
“Levi, Hwaryon.”
“Just give the order.”
“Okay, big brother!”
“Let’s go!”
While attacks were concentrated on Sir Rashid and Ponya due to the drawn aggro.
The three dove into the gap that opened.
Stab!
Ethan stabbed his sword into the Evil Lizard in front of him and pushed forward.
Then the aggro was dispersed to Ethan.
Levi knocked down Evil Lizards trying to approach Ethan with her whip.
Hwaryon, who had unlocked her ability, also quickly followed and dealt with lizards threatening Ethan’s sides.
Ethan, who broke through the monster encirclement by cutting down five in one breath.
Quickly reached the rearmost part and pointed his sword at the hooded figure.
“Hands up.”
“!”
Though he seemed unwilling.
When Ethan poked his back with the sword tip, the guy slowly raised both hands above his head.
“Were you the one controlling the monsters?”
This time he shook his head stubbornly.
“Turn around.”
He slowly turned to show his face.
And.
“Mmph, mmph!”
With a gag in his mouth.
He shook his head left and right with a desperate expression.
“What, don’t tell me you…”
“Mmmmph!! Mmph!!”
Something was wrong.
The man’s skin turned bright red and soon swelled up.
BOOM!
He exploded just like that.
*
Labyrinth, 40th underground floor.
The looters’ forward base built far off the regular exploration route.
The man who looked like the leader raised his head during a meal.
“Hmm?”
“What’s wrong?”
“Connection with one of the chess pieces has been cut off.”
At those words, a large man shouted with exaggerated tone and gestures.
“What are you all doing! Organize a scouting party and move out immediately!”
“Kyahaha, Tauren. Is it good to be so harsh on your subordinates?”
“I’m sorry, Slau-nim!”
The subordinates looked at Tauren pitifully.
Their former leader who chose to obey Slau, who appeared from the deep levels leading powerful monsters, in order to survive.
“This is perfect timing. If they’re that strong an exploration team, they’ll make good quality sacrifices. Go and politely bring them here.”
“…Understood.”
*
“Ethan-nim!!!”
“Big brother!”
“I’m fine.”
Though the scale of the explosion was considerable.
Thanks to , he was spotless without a single wound.
‘It was a skill no one used because the cooldown was too long, but it’s quite helpful.’
Ethan faced his group after dusting himself off moderately.
He smiled at the children with tearful faces.
“I guess my faith was lacking. I’m sorry, Ethan-nim.”
“As expected of big brother! You’re safe!”
“…Thank goodness.”
He said to Ponya, whose eyes were moist.
“Ponya, is it okay if we postpone challenging the 41st floor a bit?”
As if realizing the meaning behind those words.
Ponya nodded her head eagerly.
“Yes!”
We found traces of the captured exploration team that gave us well-intentioned advice.
And we were directly attacked by those bastards.
“I heard attacks by looters have increased lately. It’s probably them. Let’s track them down and wipe them out. We can’t just explore the labyrinth with enemies at our back.”
It would be a big problem if we encounter them while returning to the upper levels with depleted health.
“I agree with that opinion too. But Ethan-nim, how should we find those bastards…”
“Sir Rashid, we have Ponya, don’t we?”
Before Ethan finished speaking, Ponya sniffed Dusty’s staff and.
“It’s this way!”
She moved forward as if entranced.
The labyrinth interior has spaces that are neat and elaborate as if built by humans, but.
Conversely, there are also many spaces that are rough and have winding passages like natural caves.
After running for a while relying on Ponya’s sense of smell.
They discovered a narrow but endlessly deep passage.
It was the entrance to a cave leading to the looters’ base.
“What are these-”
Slash!
Ponya cut down a looter coming out of there.
Sir Rashid advanced to fill Ponya’s gaps and cut down two more.
“Intruders! Intru- Ack!”
Levi wrapped her whip around the neck of the one trying to turn back and alert those inside, and pulled.
Stab!
Hwaryon finished him off.
‘I didn’t even need to step in.’
Everyone was more proactive than expected.
Levi, Hwaryon, and Ponya’s eyes blazed like the sun.
‘How dare you do such a trivial thing to Ethan-nim?’
‘They did bad things to big brother, so we should return the favor.’
‘Ethan-nim’s enemies are my enemies.’
As they passed through the narrow passage and entered a wide space.
The number of looters blocking the way increased accordingly, but.
“Aaargh!”
“M-Monsters!”
“S-Spare me-”
They were mostly one-sidedly slaughtered by the three.
Enemies that Ponya and Hwaryon missed were dealt with by Sir Rashid and Ethan working in coordination.
In less than 10 minutes after breaking in.
The interior was filled with looters’ corpses.
“Ethan-nim, the mage uncle is over here!”
“Hey, Mr. Dusty. Are you alright?”
He was only shackled, with no major injuries.
Dusty, with a somewhat dazed expression, muttered while deeply frowning.
“D-Danger…ous. Qui…ckly, run a…way…”
At that moment.
-Clap. Clap. Clap. Clap.
Dry applause was heard from inside another passage.
Soon a woman with long ash-gray hair walked out leisurely.
The woman spoke while scanning Ethan’s group one by one as if judging an exhibition.
“Hmm, pass. The front three are perfect as sacrifices. The muscleman’s quality is a bit inferior compared to the kids, but not bad so the same goes. And… Huh?”
The woman frowned upon seeing Ethan.
“How dare, how dare, how dare!!!”
“?”
“How dare a follower of the wicked tree set foot on Lord Erihazad’s land?!”
As far as Ethan knew, Erihazad is the name of the demon boss seated on the 100th floor.
Which means…
[The World Tree’s First Root expresses indignation, saying the target before your eyes is a ‘demon worshipper’ that must be struck down.]
‘So that’s how it is?’
Demon worshipper.
One of the axes of evil in the worldview that worships demons, otherworldly beings.
And gains power from them.
Those bastards carry out horrific slaughter shows every time to summon demons to this world.
Once summoned, demons can exert unrestricted power within a limited time.
The worshippers also have their connection with the contracted demon strengthened, so it’s beneficial for both.
‘A woman with ash-gray hair long enough to drag on the ground. And a demon worshipper…’
A familiar name came to mind.
“Shut up, Slau. You who sold out even your own kind to curry favor with otherworldly beings.”
A being who will become somewhat of a named entity among demon worshippers around the start of the main story.
‘But not now. After all, it’s 9 years before.’
So it’s quite doable.
Slau asked back, seeming flustered.
“…You, how do you know my name?”
“No need to know. You’ll die soon anyway.”
Ethan ignored the fuming Slau and spoke to the children.
“Levi, Hwaryon, Ponya.”
“”Yes!””
“From now on, we hunt the demon’s servants.”
“Leave it to us.”
With Ethan at the lead, the four people charged towards Slau.
Sir Rashid, surprised to confirm the existence of ‘demon worshippers’ he had only heard of in old tales, joined the ranks half a beat late.
But contrary to Ethan’s thoughts.
“You insignificant ones!”
Slau was by no means easy to deal with.